Dive toss bombing versus old school aces high bombing?
Dive toss was a great concept, i.e. using the radar for accurate ranging to the ground target. The system required a lot of maintaining. If on any given day, the radar was “glitchy” which was almost a daily occurrence, the crew had to use manual as a backup. When tuned up properly, dive toss made for very accurate bomb deliveries. The problem for crew was required semi annual “dive toss training events”. There was a slew of different training events (commonly referred to as squares) to accomplish every half year. If a pilot or WSO didn’t have all the squares filled at the end of the half, that was a big deal, resulting in more paperwork.
So, back in the day there was the Great Dive Toss Scandal. The dive toss system rarely ever worked well enough to be effective, or even come on line during flight. So, crews were routinely “pencil whipping” completed dive toss events when manual bombing was used for acceptable bomb scoring. This became a somewhat accepted mode of completing dive toss squares as a result of frustration when dive toss seldom worked properly. Soon, the problem elevated through the chain of command, and the Great Dive Toss Scandal was born.
Fortunately, this was years before my time in the Rhino. Dive Toss was an ok system but, when it came down to it, manual bombing was the preferred method, since dive toss would sometimes decide to quit working part way down the chute to bomb release. One could be fairly confident the bomb was going to come off the jet at the correct time, in manual.
I imagine in DCS, Dive Toss works perfectly every time.
